Ease of getting into optometry school

[treytrey]

Why is it so easy to get into optometry school? The gpa requirements are pathetic, most schools entering classes have gpas from 3.0-3.4. The OAT is even more pathetic, I'm surprised that there are people who manage to score below 350 on it, let alone those that barely manage 300. How do these people even manage to continue through optometry school and become optometrists after?

Compare this to any other profession, medicine and dentistry, heck even pharmacy all have much tougher requirements and thus higher entering class gpa's, mcat/dat/pcat.

A business is what these schools are, and not just an ordinary business, but one that is designed to take as much of your money as possible.

I just had a look at the new schools that have been propped up, there are literally people with 2.5-3.0 gpa's being accepted. For reference, you can't even get accepted to masters programs with that sort of gutter tier gpa to even the lowest tier schools.

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[DirtyDan21]

Lmao you just won't quit, will you? We get it. You hate optometry. Please, for the love of God, stop posting. No one cares about your opinions on this subject. I know you think you're being funny or something, but all you're doing by relentlessly posting stuff bashing this profession that we are all interested in is making yourself look like an idiot. Come on now


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[Opticalfuture]

Lmao you just won't quit, will you? We get it. You hate optometry. Please, for the love of God, stop posting. No one cares about your opinions on this subject. I know you think you're being funny or something, but all you're doing by relentlessly posting stuff bashing this profession that we are all interested in is making yourself look like an idiot. Come on now


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Exactly this guy loves trolling since he hates his life and blames it on optometry too bad he didn't have a nice person to guide him in life he needed it

 

[Snakedoctor1]

Why is it so easy to get into optometry school? The gpa requirements are pathetic, most schools entering classes have gpas from 3.0-3.4. The OAT is even more pathetic, I'm surprised that there are people who manage to score below 350 on it, let alone those that barely manage 300. How do these people even manage to continue through optometry school and become optometrists after?

Compare this to any other profession, medicine and dentistry, heck even pharmacy all have much tougher requirements and thus higher entering class gpa's, mcat/dat/pcat.

A business is what these schools are, and not just an ordinary business, but one that is designed to take as much of your money as possible.

I just had a look at the new schools that have been propped up, there are literally people with 2.5-3.0 gpa's being accepted. For reference, you can't even get accepted to masters programs with that sort of gutter tier gpa to even the lowest tier schools.

Yeah, we know. Dentistry and Pharmacy are perfect professions void of problems, filled with talented and intelligent applicants and Optometry is a cesspool of underachievement.

You're obviously cream of the crop, and we'll all bring flowers to the grave of your wasted potential, but if you "lurked" on this website before Optometry school as you've said, and were still duped into thinking all of your optometric deturgescent dreams would come true, then doesn't that make you... kind of an idiot?

 

[treytrey]

Lmao you just won't quit, will you? We get it. You hate optometry. Please, for the love of God, stop posting. No one cares about your opinions on this subject. I know you think you're being funny or something, but all you're doing by relentlessly posting stuff bashing this profession that we are all interested in is making yourself look like an idiot. Come on now

I don't hate optometry, just the state that it's in.

Come on, you can't honestly disagree with me when I say that it's really easy to get into optometry school. Just take a look at the stats, they speak for themselves.

It's way easier to get into an optometry school than anything else, even a masters. That information alone should be enough to pull up many red flags.

 

[DirtyDan21]

I don't hate optometry, just the state that it's in.

Come on, you can't honestly disagree with me when I say that it's really easy to get into optometry school. Just take a look at the stats, they speak for themselves.

It's way easier to get into an optometry school than anything else, even a masters. That information alone should be enough to pull up many red flags.

It may be a little easier to get accepted into unaccredited schools, but that's because they need to entice students to consider their school. If you really wanted to help prospective students, all you needed to say was this: "Before deciding wholeheartedly on this profession, I urge you to research the career as much as possible, as well as ask the opinions of multiple optometrists. Would they pursue this career again if they were to start all over?" Instead, you're comparing apples and oranges and essentially calling everyone who disagrees with you ignorant. Look, I'm not here to argue with you. I couldn't care less about your opinion; I just don't want potential optometry students to see one of your posts and decide to find a different a career based off of your "experiences."


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[Weirdy]

I don't hate optometry, just the state that it's in.

Come on, you can't honestly disagree with me when I say that it's really easy to get into optometry school. Just take a look at the stats, they speak for themselves.

It's way easier to get into an optometry school than anything else, even a masters. That information alone should be enough to pull up many red flags.

Nice blanket statement. So many factors and not true at all but good try.

Optometry has its issues like any other profession. Doesn't mean you need to incessantly **** on it.

If you think opto is bad, go take a good hard look at pharm.

 

[treytrey]

It may be a little easier to get accepted into unaccredited schools, but that's because they need to entice students to consider their school.

Didn't realize NOVA, ICO, SUNY, NECO, PCO etc. were unaccredited schools.

Also it's not just my posts. It's plenty of peoples posts here throughout the years. I'm just another voice trying to ward people off a crappy path.

 

[DirtyDan21]

Didn't realize NOVA, ICO, SUNY, NECO, PCO etc. were unaccredited schools.

Also it's not just my posts. It's plenty of peoples posts here throughout the years. I'm just another voice trying to ward people off a crappy path.

I never said those schools weren't accredited. If I remember right, you claim to be an optometrist. Let's hear where you went to school and what your stats were.


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[treytrey]

I never said those schools weren't accredited. If I remember right, you claim to be an optometrist. Let's hear where you went to school and what your stats were.


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I went to NECO. I have a 390/380 oat and a 3.7 gpa.

 

[DirtyDan21]

I went to NECO. I have a 390/380 oat and a 3.7 gpa.

Impressive. Some of the schools you listed in your reply to me actually don't have sub-par stats. For example, you suggested that SUNY isn't an accredited school based off of their average OAT/GPA data. In 2015, their average OAT was 343 and GPA was 3.51. That doesn't sound low to me.

If you're trying to "ward people off a crappy path", I suggest you start coming up with a better argument. Merely comparing two different professions isn't going to do you or us any good. I think that you should've researched optometry more before you went down that road. You would've known that practicing in a saturated area like "the GTA" isn't good for business. That's common sense.


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[Meeehai]

Why is it so easy to get into optometry school? The gpa requirements are pathetic, most schools entering classes have gpas from 3.0-3.4. The OAT is even more pathetic, I'm surprised that there are people who manage to score below 350 on it, let alone those that barely manage 300. How do these people even manage to continue through optometry school and become optometrists after?

Compare this to any other profession, medicine and dentistry, heck even pharmacy all have much tougher requirements and thus higher entering class gpa's, mcat/dat/pcat.

A business is what these schools are, and not just an ordinary business, but one that is designed to take as much of your money as possible.

I just had a look at the new schools that have been propped up, there are literally people with 2.5-3.0 gpa's being accepted. For reference, you can't even get accepted to masters programs with that sort of gutter tier gpa to even the lowest tier schools.

You're right. Admission requirements are pretty low and the OAT is a very easy test when compared to others (although I would argue that everything besides medicine is really easy to get into). There are people with laughable stats getting accepted and it's not far fetched to think these teaching institutions put more emphasis on their financial success over the conditions and well being of graduates. You also bring up a lot of other important issues and anyone who attempts to cover up these problems with optimism needs a reality check. I think it's very important for people to be fully aware of these problems before making such a big investment and I believe you are doing a good thing by bringing these issues to the surface.

But this is like the 10th post you've made saying the exact same thing. It just comes off as if you're eternally butt hurt and the only thing on your mind is venting about your first world problems after you get off work. I'm certain you were fully educated and aware of these issues prior to applying and you made the decision to go for it anyway. I'm also certain that for the most part, you enjoy what you do and you don't feel cheated so much by the profession that you would start over and seek an MD/DO. Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side. With that being said, I think you've done a great job at warning people about the downsides and consequences, you may now rest in peace. There will be people that ignore you and the realities might hit them hard when they graduate - but sometimes you just have to let people make their own mistakes.

 

[tulsi3patel]

As everyone here stating Optometry is easy to get accepted do you list of school which are easy to get in and does OPTOMCAS still does grade replacement. When I look at requirement of school it ask for 3.0 GPA I wonder is this with grade replacement or without.

 

[waapo2018]

Hey! Let's not undermine Optometry. People still need quality eye care. Eyes are very important. The bottom line is that these threads are meant to help people and provide meaningful advice, not to bash professions. If you don't like optometry, please talk to someone you trust about your problems instead of demeaning others for going into it. Sure, there are some flaws with optometry. But let's face it. There are flaws with Medicine, there are flaws with pharmacy, there are flaws with dentistry, there are flaws with Engineering, there are flaws with Business, there are flaws with every career!!!!!!

 

[siddom]

I am also curious why Optometry is so easy to get into.....maybe not many people interested in becoming an Optometrist.

 

[deleted853480]

The average is like 320-330 oat which is like 70% tile. Not that easy if you ask me. The. Again I didn't study much for the oat and got a 400.